MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

2/22 Extra bases

Lefty John Gaub, sidelined with back spasms, was expected to take part in on-field drills on Thursday. Gaub, who felt the spasms while weight lifting, said he hoped to start throwing.

* Right now, there’s no platoon set-up in Dale Sveum’s lineup. He does plan on using Jeff Baker against left-handed pitchers and take advantage of his versatility. Baker can sub in right field for David DeJesus, at first for Bryan LaHair, or at third for Ian Stewart if necessary.

“All that stuff is day to day, and how they’re swinging at the time and what they’ve been doing at the time,” Sveum said about the lineup. “Not every lefty is the same either. If a guy’s swinging the bat good, you still need those guys in the lineup.”

Baker batted .314 against lefties last season compared to .200 against right-handers, while DeJesus hit .174 against lefties, .265 against right-handers, and Stewart has a career .223 average against lefties, .240 versus right-handers.

“There’s no platoon situation in mind at all for anybody right now,” Sveum said.

* The Cubs are in the process of finalizing the plans for the new Spring Training facility, to be built in east Mesa. No date has been set for groundbreaking but the plan is to have the facility ready for 2014 Spring Training.

* The only position players yet to appear at Fitch Park are Alfonso Soriano and Starlin Castro, non-roster invitees Blake DeWitt and Jae-Hoon Ha. Position players must report by Thursday, with the first full squad workout scheduled for Friday. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts also was expected in camp Friday to address the team.

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